Questions about proper price point pricing on a sound product –
05-18-2013

Hi again everyone,

I'm working to convert some of my sounds and ambient stuff to youtube format so you can all hear what I have done. I've create many ambient pieces over the years, roughly 3-400 sounds alone, not all from ambient packs, most are, but some are singles I've released over the years and some I've never released before.

I do sound design cause I love it. I'm currently between jobs due to health issues with my heart so I'm trying to make extra income to help support my family (my wife and I and our lovely Lucy our dog, 3 cats and two birds which act as our kids since my wife couldn't have kids in this lifetime unfortuneally). I work on android App stuff for my sounds such as a sound engine, I have extreme haunt sounds on the Google Play store free to all. Extreme sounds is another fun one that is free and shows off my work. I also made about 6 Hallow Screams Haunted Farm apps in various formats such as a 3d app, clown only haunt app, basic app.. you get the idea. Again, all these are on the store free to download and check out if you have a Android phone. Just search dlstorminc or Hallow and I should pop up.

Now, I'm working hard to try to make a name for myself selling my ambient packs and sounds and custom work to haunters but I'm stumbling on price points. How do you set a price point for a custom pack that is going to be heard by the masses? I had my packs priced for game designers, depending on how many sounds was in the pack and the quality of the pack overall. So my sound packs ranged anywhere between $15 and $59 each depending how complex the pack was to design. My question is should I stick to the same pricing structure or could I charge a little more since the haunts that might use my packs could generate an income from my works? Oh and by the way, a good way to look at it is like a movie without sound... sound and the music is what makes the movies come to life, so audio design is an important part of the experience. Have bad sound, or no sound, and it could hurt your haunt... am I right or wrong in this way of thinking?

I was thinking of leasing my sounds... such as a pack of say 18 sounds that the client selects personally from my huge list of tracks and would pay, say, $1500 a season which grants the haunt complete unlimited usage access to the sounds for that season. They don't buy the sounds, they would be borrowing them for the season, then next season they have the option to buy the sounds or newer sounds for the same price to use again the following year (adjusted up or down with the number in the pack depending what the haunt owner wanted to do).

Another area I was looking at was custom building owners quality CD's based off the list of sounds they hear and want. Based off, for example, 18 quality sounds the haunt owner liked. I could charge PER sound or a custom package deal to sell them the CD for, say, $100 a copy? I don't know if this is right thou. I look at others CDs and they are not selling at these prices and for the record, I'm NOT trying to millk anyone or the haunt owners or backyard haunters with these prices, i'm simply trying to find a stable price point for my Ambient stuff to sell to the masses at the haunt conventions like MHC and TW shows that I will be attending in the next year or two.

I am looking for a simple pricing structure that will be fair to both the haunters and myself for my time spent in the mixing room with the sounds. I average about 3-6 weeks per pack of about 8-16 sounds, depending on the pack. Again, depending on how the sounds actually sound and how useful they are, is what I finally price the pack at. Some packs, like my $15 packs have taken a weekend to make, while others, like the Graveyard Audio Pack that sells for $59.00 has taken me 2-3 months with a ton of quality sounds in it in WAV/MP3 and OGG formats.

My goal is to make a business doing custom sounds for haunted houses, both backyard haunts and those like the Indy Scream Park here in Indianapolis, IN. Searching for a good price point is a haunting nightmare in itself as it must remain fair to myself for my effort put into the pack or pieces of sound and fair to the owner of the event or haunt. My goal is NEVER to milk anyone and just be honest about the sounds and try to make a living doing what I love, sound design.

If I could do this for a living I would in a heart beat. Something I grew up living by and still do today is a simple saying. Follow your dreams with all your heart and you will never go wrong. I do what I do because of the love of doing what I love, not for the money. Sure, the money is nice to follow something you really love to do, but sometimes you have to follow the money, and when you do, sometimes things go wrong cause you followed the cash vs what you really loved doing. I've ran into that several times as a truck driver over the 12 years I did drive.

Well that is it for me, I will try to get some sounds together soon and post some on my youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyHauntedNightmares so please stop by and join my channel if you like. Thank you for such a great forum to post in. I hope you all have a great weekend and if your going to MHC please have a safe trip to and from. Expect to see me there in the next year or two for sure once I get pricing down. I do offer custom work if anyone is interested, and if anyone would like hire me for a gig I am free.

The only question I found in your post-
" How do you set a price point for a custom pack that is going to be heard by the masses?"
Honestly, I have no idea. I think though that you need to look at industry standard for CD's and use allowance- That seems to be about $30 for a 20 track CD and $0- $300 for use. Midnight syndicate are very successful and you may wish to look at their model and follow that.
Im not a sound guy, but I am a Haunt guy. The concept of leasing sounds for $1500 a season is alien to me and makes me cringe. I think that will be a hard sell to all haunts aside from the biggest spenders, and they are already in a pattern of spending their money elsewhere on their show. I would go the pressed CD route myself and sell as many as I could at shows like MHC, West coast, and Hauntcon.
Allen H

1500 to lease when Hollywood FX folley and sound effects guys like Adam from PoisonProps.com is selling his entire amazing collection of CD's for 350??? AND he lets you use the ambient sound effects on your site with only a requirement to link back to his site.

You're crazy if you think people will pay that much for sound design.

Sorry, but few are responding because, as Allen said, guys like Midnight have a great foothold, give great products, and are REASONABLY priced.

Price point is typically 10- 25 dollars per hour of music. Bottom line. Ergo Adam's 25 cd's - 300-350 bucks. I'd never pay that much unless it was an artist like Delirium Dog (Glenn) writing a custom soundtrack like he did for Scarehouse with "Stay" and something that was out of this world. Sorry.

The main idea was to see what pricing worked. Another sound designer who has worked in the industry before gave me suggestions and said pretty much what you guys did here. So I must be on the right track with my pricing now. Was told to never under cut myself but never over price my stuff either, it has to remain balanced for the customer. I think I got a good starting pricing layout down for now and great advice to work from. Lets see where it takes us. I can always adjust it as time goes on.